Tickets and warnings are up and accidents are down along a busy stretch of state highway running through Oklahoma’s STACK play.

Officials with the Energize for Safety Coalition this week celebrated those results as part of an announcement the coalition is getting renewed financial support from industry partners and the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board.

With that help, coalition officials pledged to continue to look for ways to broaden the group's positive impact on areas where safety corridors are in use.

“This is a great example of what can and should be done between state agencies working with the industry,” said state Rep. Mike Sanders, R-Kingfisher.

“This initiative has made a real difference.”

The grant from the OERB comes from dollars it collects through a voluntary 1/10th of a 1% assessment on the sale value of oil and natural gas that oil and gas operators and mineral rights owners contribute to support the organization’s environmental and educational programs.

The coalition, composed of many oil and gas companies and individuals and several state agencies, was formed early this year to improve traffic safety issues and correct what had become significant problems along a 25-mile-long stretch of State Highway 33 between Kingfisher and Watonga, covering parts of Kingfisher and Blaine counties and passing through the heart of the STACK play.

The number of collisions along the highway between Feb. 25 and Dec. 5 was 22, compared with 35 in 2018 — a reduction of 37%.

Meanwhile, law officers more than doubled the number of citations they wrote during that time, from 272 to 583, and also increased numbers of contacts with drivers by more than 50%.

Efforts to improve safety along the corridor didn’t just focus on enforcing laws, either.

Over the past year, the coalition reached out to more than 1,000 high school students from Oklahoma communities near the safety corridor to educate them about sharing the road with trucks and equipment.

A focus for the coalition, officials said, has been the Chisholm Trail Technology Center, located just off the state highway between the two communities.

Over the past year, coalition partners have provided all the students and faculty at the technology center with driver safety training and held a hands-on energy traffic and safety day.

“The most important thing for me are the lives of my students as they drive to and from our campus,” Max Thomas, superintendent of the center, stated as part of a release touting the coalition’s accomplishments.

“The Energize for Safety Coalition has provided my students and staff with training, resources, engaged law enforcement and engineering solutions from ODOT that help us positively impact driver safety. I’m very grateful for their efforts and support.”

'Team approach'

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State agencies involved in the coalition include the state Public Safety Department, the state Transportation Department and the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office.

Beyond enforcement and signage upgrades, the transportation department also has redesigned the highway to eliminate blind spots through the corridor. That effort included adding turn lanes and lane striping and flashing lights at the technology center's entrance off the highway. It also plans to add widened shoulders along the entire route.

“The penalty for crossing the white line should not be injury or even death,” said Bryan Taylor, the Transportation Department’s chief engineer.

“We appreciate these partnerships, but especially value our partnership with drivers to reduce collisions in this corridor by putting away distractions and staying vigilant while behind the wheel in order to help everyone get home safely each day. It’s absolutely been a group effort.”

Paul Harris, director of the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office, agreed, noting realized reductions in year-over-year minor and fatality crashes only could have been achieved with the coalition’s assistance.

Tom Robins, the coalition’s founder and president, said the organization’s members remain committed to expanding its safety efforts both in the STACK play and in other areas where they might be needed.

“The team approach, focusing not just on increased enforcement but on engagement, education and engineering to support driver safety outcomes is our secret sauce,” he said. “Members of the Energize for Safety Coalition place safety as their Number One priority in Oklahoma communities where energy is produced and transported.

“Working with state agencies, nonprofits and industry is a successful model that is yielding results."

Signs like these are posted along State Highway 33 in a safety corridor between Kingfisher and Watonga. [JACK MONEY/THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES] A truck travels down a road near Kingfisher. Increased traffic because of oil and gas activity in the STACK play of northwestern Oklahoma led to the creation of a coalition to promote safey along a busy stretch of highway between Kingfisher and Watonga. [CHRIS LANDSBERGER/THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES] [OKLAHOMAN GRAPHICS] Trucks navigate a busy intersection along State Highway 33 in Kingfisher earlier this year. [JACK MONEY/THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES]

Jack Money

Jack Money has worked for The Oklahoman for more than 20 years. During that time, he has worked for the paper’s city, state, metro and business news desks, including serving for a while as an assistant city editor. Money has won state and regional...
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